


Game Theory

by Kaiosea



Category: Infinite (Band), K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe - Children, Capture the Flag, Childhood Games, Gen, Kidfinite, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-31
Updated: 2014-05-31
Packaged: 2018-01-27 19:59:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1720757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaiosea/pseuds/Kaiosea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Who's up for a quick game of Capture the Flag?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Game Theory

**Author's Note:**

> [Pictures for context (and cuteness)- please click!](http://kaiosea.tumblr.com/post/87434796290/for-fic)

On a lively Friday afternoon so bright they ached for it to be summer vacation already, they assembled themselves at a nearby park for a rousing game of Capture the Flag. Sungjong went straight for the swings and Hoya followed, because Sungjong was his self-appointed responsibility. Woohyun convinced Sunggyu to get on the other side of the teeter-totter. Dongwoo jumped up for the monkey bars. Myungsoo, in his new dark purple jacket entirely unsuited for the weather, threaded himself through the giant tire-swing. 

“I call captain,” Sungyeol yelled when he came out from the yellow slide. “I call second captain,” Hoya shouted back, speaking before Sungyeol had finished. Woohyun made a noise of indignation, but too bad. He hadn’t been fast enough. 

“I call judge,” Sunggyu fake-groaned. 

Ever since Sunggyu started middle school, he had become much less fun, or so they told him daily. Something he kept mumbling about being too cool to hang out with younger kids. If he had his way, he certainly wouldn’t be hanging out with a nine-year-old! But Sungjong, the nine-year-old in question, was under Hoya’s protection, and no one really wanted to mess with Hoya. 

Also, there was the rumor that Sungjong ate ants for fun, which terrified all who heard. 

Hoya knew it was a rumor, and he knew this because Sungjong had started it. 

“There’s no judge for this game,” Woohyun helpfully informed Sunggyu from the other end of the teeter-totter. Sunggyu said he knew that already and fine, he would play but only because they obviously really, really needed him to. Only Woohyun caught the tail end of his happy smirk. 

Hoya used his foot to draw a line smack down the middle of the playground, bisecting the territory that was soon to become a warground. He and Sungyeol arranged themselves on opposite sides. 

“I pick Dongwoo,” Sungyeol said, eager to get things started. Looking astonished to be picked first, Dongwoo ambled towards Sungyeol’s side of the dirt and politely thanked him. 

Dongwoo was the fastest twelve-year-old in the district. He was always picked first. He was always surprised.

“Woohyun,” was Hoya’s first pick. Sungjong squeaked with outrage. 

“Sorry Sungjong.” He might have been under Hoya’s protection, but he wasn’t very good at running yet. This was a tough world, and he had to make the best choices for his loyal team. Woohyun might have been slower than a speeding bullet, but he was faster than a Sungjong. 

“Myungsoo’s slower than me,” Sungjong said. “He only turned ten two weeks ago!”

“Hey!” The exclamation naturally came from Sungyeol, because until two weeks ago, Myungsoo had been under Sungyeol’s protection, of course. Sungyeol glanced at Myungsoo triumphantly, hoping he’d noticed this grand act of loyalty. 

At that moment, a pretty orange butterfly captivated Myungsoo’s whole attention and he missed the exchange entirely from his post on the tire swing. 

“Myungsoo,” Sungyeol called. “I choose you.” 

“I don’t want to move,” Myungsoo replied. “This tire’s the best. Too hot.”

“I’ll bring you back tomorrow! You can lie on it for five hours just like last time,” Dongwoo coaxed. 

“And take off your jacket, that’s why you’re too hot,” Sungyeol said. He had taken to imitating a teacher in his free time.

“I need it,” Myungsoo protested. “I’m goth now.” He did his best impression of a wounded-yet-simultaneously-uncaring glare. 

Sungjong laughed on an up-swing. “Your face!”

“I thought goths wore black,” Sungyeol said with mild horror. “You’re completely purple.”

“It’s not my fault. My mom won’t buy them for me,” Myungsoo complained, still watching the butterfly. His mom said that a person who was ten years old and also happened to be him was not allowed to have an entirely new wardrobe of dull colors. He had resorted to wearing only the color closest to black on the color spectrum, which was purple. Did these fools understand nothing about the color spectrum?

“You’ll get heatstroke,” Sunggyu offered, taking a sudden dark interest. Myungsoo rolled through the tire and began intensive bargaining with Sungyeol to use his jacket as their team’s flag. 

Not to be derailed, Hoya brought them back to the task at hand, picking Sunggyu, who refused to budge until the game “officially” started, despite the difficulty of teeter-tottering as a single player. Sungyeol decided against picking a fourth player, Sungjong, who jumped off the swings at a daring height with a cry of “Yeah!! Hoya!!” and ran to his side. 

“Dongwoo counts as two people anyways,” Hoya said. Dongwoo laughed, even though he hadn’t said anything funny. 

“That’s fair,” Sungyeol acknowledged. 

Woohyun liked to give speeches, and it was best to let him get it out of his system every now and then, so they let him say the rules. He grinned, looking each one of them in the eyes as he recited, “Capture the Flag. The oldest game in history, according to me. Where friendships are made and broken. We survive, but at what cost?”

Sunggyu waved his hand up and down, which was the go faster or else signal. 

“The rules: Each team has a flag. They hide this flag anywhere they want on their own land. The point of the game is to steal the other team’s flag and bring it to your own side. But,” he gulped for air, “You got to be sneaky, or fast, because the enemy can tag you on their ground, and you go to Pretend Jail. The only way to get out is your teammate tags you out, like a rescue mission.”

They clapped unenthusiastically but they clapped nonetheless, because Woohyun was the type of person who always raised his hand when the teacher said “Who wants to read something out loud?” and then looked really sad if he wasn’t chosen. 

“Let’s get started,” Hoya said. 

 

*

Sungyeol’s side did pick Myungsoo’s purple jacket as their flag, though they almost had to joint-wrestle it off him and then when they discovered he was wearing another purple jacket underneath it, this one vaguely patterned, he gave it up as the second flag. “Think of the heatstroke,” Sungyeol had said seriously, and of course Myungsoo listened to him this time. 

Hoya held a brief meeting with his team behind a cluster of trees, deep in his side of the park. He did a fast assessment. Woohyun was fast but unpredictable and known for doing risky things and using questionable tactics. Sunggyu was medium-fast and he ran out of breath easily, plus he was wearing oversized pants and flip-flops today in a dire attempt to look the opposite of sporty. Sungjong was slow-fast, but he was the smallest and therefore the most hide-able player. Bushes, trees, large rocks, overgrown moss--all potential hiding spots. Hoya wondered if he could train him in camouflage. 

“Tactics,” Hoya said. It wasn’t a question, but Woohyun talked anyways. 

“I say we hide it on a person,” Woohyun whispered, even though there was no need to. “Like in Sunggyu’s cargo pants, they’re baggy enough--”

Hoya wasn’t a fan of dramatics. He replied, “That seems like breaking the rules.” This was his favorite game, and he did not want some lawless friend to mess it up. 

“It’s totally fine! I am the Rule Master!”

“Take a chill pill,” said Sungjong in an unimpressively high-pitched voice. He had been watching too much television. 

“Woohyun’s idea is good,” Sunggyu inspected his fingernail, doing a quite poor impression of a person who was definitely Too Old for Capture the Flag. Woohyun preened. 

“No… Let’s just do it the normal way.” 

They decided on an ingenious hiding-place. 

As they broke for the beginning of the game, Woohyun flicked his eyes up at Sunggyu in a meaningful look that Hoya couldn’t interpret. 

*

They assembled at the playground again, the place of crossings. 

Sungyeol wore that I-have-a-plan look on his face and Hoya braced himself for a tough game. It had been a while since they faced each other as captains, and Hoya’s serious concentration and Sungyeol’s cleverness were naturally a fair match. 

Dongwoo yelled off the count, “Okay… on our marks...and… uh, readysetgo!”

No sooner had the words left his lips then he was off in a blur of wild-blown hair, legs pumping, arms waving like a champion… into enemy territory. 

“Catch him!” Hoya shouted as Woohyun and Sunggyu immediately started off. He should have expected something like this. He turned around to watch Dongwoo positively sprint into the crowd of trees on their land. In the second he glanced back, Sungyeol was gone, skinny legs lunging over the dividing line. “Crap,” Hoya said, and he dashed off, following him like his life depended on it. 

Silence stretched over the borderlands. Sungjong finally said, “Are you going to run too?”

“I’m the guard,” Myungsoo said. “I’m assigned to the tire.”

Sungjong smiled with realization. “Oh yeah. It’s just you.” And he jumped over the line, leaving Myungsoo with the conundrum of whether to follow him or to 

On the whole, Myungsoo was not convinced that Sungyeol’s strategy was very wise.


End file.
